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Traffic fatalities down in Texas drilling area

SAN ANTONIO—Traffic fatalities are down but the number of wrecks has risen in a 23-county area of South Texas where oil drilling has boomed in recent years.

The San Antonio Express News reports ( http://bit.ly/1ho1ZcZ) there were 236 fatalities in 2013, a drop from 248 the year before. But the Texas Department of Transportation says there was a 26 percent jump—to 3,430—in the number of crashes that resulted in serious injuries or fatalities in the region where companies are drilling in the oil-rich Eagle Ford shale.

As companies flock to the area, there are more cars and heavy trucks on the roads.

The department is pushing a safety campaign. Department spokesman Mark Cross says the oil boom is "affecting the state in a big way, good and bad."

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